Where can I list my company for free? The key directories in 2026

The short answer: You can list your company for free above all in Google Business Profile, with Apple (Business Connect), in Bing Places and in the basic listings of Gelbe Seiten, 11880, GoLocal, Cylex, Yelp and companypedia. Start with Google, because that is where most customers search. Use exactly the same company details everywhere. Watch out for free trials that roll over into annual contracts, and for forms that look like invoices.

Many businesses have long been listed in dozens of directories – they just don't know it. Address data moves back and forth between data providers, business directories and map services. The result is listings with an old phone number, wrong opening hours or a company name spelt three different ways.

Listing your company yourself therefore pays off twice: new customers find your business, and the details are correct. In most cases it costs nothing but a little time. What you usually pay for are add-on packages with more visibility, photos or advertising slots.

Which business directories are there in Germany?

Broadly, there are three groups. Map services and search engines such as Google, Apple Maps and Bing show your business right where people look for services nearby. Classic business directories such as Gelbe Seiten, Das Örtliche, 11880 or Cylex are the online successors of the printed phone books. Company and review portals such as Yelp or companypedia add reviews, descriptions, photos or job openings to the core data.

The overview below shows what is actually free with the main providers (as of October 2026, prices excluding VAT):

What about Facebook, Instagram and industry portals?

A company page on social networks is free as well and makes sense for many audiences – but it does not replace a listing in maps and directories. Some industries also have specialist portals, such as Jameda for doctors, Anwalt.de for law firms or Booking.com for accommodation. Our sister portal reviewfinder gives an overview of these platforms and their rules in its overview of review platforms.

Where should you list your company first?

Not every directory is equally important. The order depends on where your customers actually search.

1. Google Business Profile. For most local businesses this is the most important listing. It appears in Google Search and Google Maps, and Google states explicitly that creating the profile is free.

2. Apple Maps and Bing. Many iPhone users don't open Google Maps but Apple Maps. Apple launched Business Connect in 2023 explicitly as a free tool that lets businesses manage their details in Apple Maps, Siri, Messages and Wallet. According to Microsoft, Bing Places is free too. Since its overhaul in October 2025, listings are easier to import from Google.

3. The big business directories. Gelbe Seiten, 11880, GoLocal and Cylex offer free basic listings. They add more places where you can be found and are often used by other services as a data source.

4. Company and review portals. A profile on companypedia or Yelp adds a description, reviews and more content to the core data. This is becoming more important, because AI assistants also draw on such sources.

The figures come from the US, but they point in one direction: Google remains central, yet customers are spreading across more channels. Which sources AI systems use to form their picture of a company is explained in reviewfinder's guide to AI company assessment.

Listing your company: step by step

1. Settle your core data: Write down once, bindingly, what your company is called, where it is based and how to reach it – including opening hours, website, main category and a short description. ➔ Result: a template from which you fill in every listing identically.
2. Create your Google Business Profile: Create the profile at business.google.com or take over an existing listing. ➔ Result: your business is registered for verification.
3. Verify the profile: Depending on the business, Google offers phone or text message, email, video call, recorded video or postcard. Google decides which method you get. ➔ Result: you may manage the profile, and your changes are accepted.
4. Add Apple and Bing: Create your listing with Apple and use the import from Google in Bing Places. ➔ Result: you are present in the three big map services.
5. Find and claim existing listings: Search for your company name in the business directories. Often a listing already exists that you only need to claim and correct. On companypedia you do this via Claim a profile. ➔ Result: no duplicates, no outdated data.
6. Create free basic listings: List your company where you are still missing – for example on Gelbe Seiten, 11880, GoLocal and Cylex. ➔ Result: more places to be found, with consistent data.
7. Keep a record: Note where you are listed, with which email address and which login. ➔ Result: if you move, change your phone number or change your opening hours, you update everything in one go.

Why consistent company data matters more than many listings

❌ Myth: "The more directories, the better – as long as the company is in there somewhere."

✔ Fact: Twenty listings with three different phone numbers do more harm than good. Customers call numbers that no longer work, and search services receive contradictory signals. In its guidelines for Business Profiles, Google requires you to use your name as the business uses it offline, too, and to give the correct address.

In practice this means: don't write "Müller Sanitär GmbH" in one place, "Sanitär Müller" in another and "Müller GmbH Heizung & Bad" in a third. The same applies to address and phone number. These three core details – name, address, phone – are how search services recognise a business across different sources.

Extra terms such as "24h emergency service" do not belong in the company name but in the category and description. Google explicitly does not allow adding unnecessary information to the name – violations can get the profile suspended.

How long does it take for my business to show up on Google?

Google does not give a fixed timeframe. According to Google's help page on verification, reviewing a profile can take up to five business days, longer in some cases. Sometimes Google verifies a profile instantly, for example when the website is already verified in Google Search Console. With verification by postcard, most codes arrive within 14 days.

Verified does not automatically mean ranked high, though. According to Google, whether your business appears in a search depends mainly on relevance, distance and prominence. The number and quality of reviews also contribute to prominence. reviewfinder's guide Getting more Google reviews shows how to get more reviews legitimately.

What cost traps lurk in company listings?

"Free" does not always mean free. There are three patterns you should know.

Trials that renew automatically

Some packages start free and then continue as paid plans. With the Gelbe Seiten "Starteintrag", for example, the three-month trial automatically turns into an annual contract – €358.80 plus VAT per year – unless you cancel at least two weeks before it ends. The free basic listing is not affected. Note the cancellation date for every trial.

"List for free" – but only until the order form

On some portals, looking for a free listing leads straight to paid packages. On meinestadt.de, for example, the page for businesses showed us only paid profiles from €39 a month, billed annually. That is legitimate, but it should be a conscious decision.

Directory invoice scams: offers that look like invoices

More dangerous are forms that look like an official request or an invoice. They ask, for instance, for an "update of your company data" – and the small print contains an expensive multi-year contract for a listing in an unknown directory.

Germany's Federal Court of Justice put a stop to one such scheme in 2012. The case concerned a form headed "Eintragungsantrag Gewerbedatenbank" (application for entry in a trade database), in which the cost of €650 net per year was hidden in a narrow column at the edge. The Federal Court of Justice (ruling of 26.07.2012, ref. VII ZR 262/11) ruled that a fee clause hidden like this is surprising and, under Section 305c(1) of the German Civil Code (BGB), does not become part of the contract.

You can recognise a reputable provider by the fact that it states prices and terms openly before you confirm anything. At companypedia, for example, all services and conditions are set out transparently on the pricing page.

What does a free profile on companypedia offer?

companypedia sees itself as a reference work for companies – one profile per company, much like an encyclopaedia entry. According to the pricing page, the free basic profile includes the main address and company data, a company text of up to 650 characters, a link, social media profiles, up to three images and reviews that are included automatically via reviewfinder.

Suitable for:

• Businesses that want to show their core data in one more well-maintained place
• Companies that want to present reviews from several sources in one place
• Firms whose profile has already been created automatically and who want to claim and correct it

Not enough for:

• Anyone who wants to include job ads, FAQs, products, several locations or links with SEO value – those are reserved for the Premium profile. The link in the basic profile is marked "nofollow".

Whether your company is already listed you can see in the search under Claim a profile or in the A–Z directory. New companies are added via List your company.

💬 Expert view: "A complete Google listing and five clean directory profiles achieve more than fifty half-finished ones. Anyone who settles their data properly once and keeps it the same everywhere is ahead of most competitors." – Lars Hermes

Conclusion: the big three first, then branch out carefully

You can list your company for free in many places. Google, Apple Maps and Bing have the greatest impact – that is where customers actively look for businesses near them. Business directories and company portals add more places to be found and more content on top of this base.

The quality of your listings matters more than their number: the same name, the same address and the same phone number everywhere. And wherever it says "free", it pays to look at trial periods and small print. Settle your core data today, start with your Google Business Profile – and check whether your business already has a profile on companypedia that you can claim.

About the author

Lars Hermes

Founder of Reviewfinder.org & CEO of Hero Pages

Lars Hermes writes for companypedia.info about company profiles, company data and digital visibility. He is the founder of reviewfinder.org and CEO of the digital agency Hero Pages, and has spent years helping businesses present themselves online accurately and in a way people can trust. In his work he sees every day how inconsistent company data and forgotten directory listings cost businesses customers. In his guides he combines hands-on agency experience with a critical look at providers, registers and platform rules.